Watering Lion's Paw
by Spinnerweb
Summary: Cosette doesn't understand why Aliasse, who has so much reason to hate, still greets the little of the world she understands with love. But Aliasse is more than just a killing machine.


"No, Ali, you're supposed to water the roots, not the flower," Cosette said, gently trying to guide the trajectory of Aliasse's watering can towards the base of the lion's paw plant. Aliasse beamed and nodded as she started pouring the water onto the leaves instead. Cosette again helped her, this time wordlessly.

She didn't understand the little blue-haired girl. She was thirteen but she was still a baby in more ways than not. She questioned Cosette why the plant was called 'lion's paw' and if all plants were this insistent on getting the water only to their roots. Then she'd ask why the roots were so shy and weren't above ground. Cosette couldn't help but hate the woman in the white labcoat who Aliasse called her mother. She'd neglected her badly as a child, only treating her as the object of research and study. Cosette shuddered as she thought quietly about how many people the woman had had Aliasse kill.

She had lost her own parents, and the only way she had of getting over it was not thinking about it. She had been told once or twice by Zeri that this wasn't a good way of dealing with trauma, because it only made the bad memories more powerful when they did come to her mind. He was right too. When she remembered the night she lost her parents, the pain was so severe she could hardly bear it.

Aliasse looked up at her, still beaming. Cosette shook herself and wondered how long she had been zoned out like that. The watering can was empty now. Most of the water was still dripping from the petals or sliding over the leaves, but a reasonable amount had still reached where it was supposed to.

Cosette couldn't help but like this little Valkyria girl who was still curious about everything around her. Like there was no war. She still dreamed, as she'd told Cosette while watering the plants for the first time, of covering the entire country in 'such pretty little flowers.' It was a childish ambition, but that was what made it so beautiful.

And Aliasse liked her too. Cosette could feel it. When she wasn't watering the plants or anything else, she would sometimes take Cosette's hand. Cosette didn't feel like asking her about what kind of conditions she lived in or anything that would embarass a normal person if they lived like Aliasse. So instead, she told her about her hometown, Yuell, or her classmates. Aliasse hadn't met them all, but she did say that if her mother didn't want her to kill them, she would like to be friends with them.

"Aliasse!" a female voice said as the woman in the labcoat walked briskly towards them. "You are to be at your quarters within the next fifteen minutes and not a second longer. I want to run some more tests on you."

"Mama, look, I'm watering these plants," Aliasse said, gesturing with the watering can towards the lion's paw.

The woman glanced at them and scoffed before kicking at them and walking away. Aliasse set down the watering can and Cosette could see her struggling to hold back tears. But within a minute she was beaming again and asking Cosette how many kinds of plants were there.

"Uh... I'm not sure," Cosette said, wishing she paid more attention in Biology class. "I'll check and tell you." Aliasse went back to tending to the plants with the same smile on her face that she had so much these days, and this time, Cosette was the one struggling to hold back tears.

"Hey squirt, look what I brought," Avan said from behind them, pulling a small bicycle with training wheels behind him. Cosette had asked him to come up with something that would keep Aliasse happy and help her learn at the same time; apparently this bicycle was it. Aliasse picked up the watering can, turned it over so that a few more drops of water landed next to the lion's paw and then dropped it, rushing to the bike.

_Thanks, Avan,_ Cosette said silently and smiled at him when he wasn't looking.

"What is it?" Aliasse asked, crouching next to it, trying - and almost succeeding before Avan stopped her - to bend the spokes of the front wheel.

"It's a bicycle. You sit on it and, well... you can move and you don't even have to stand!" Avan concluded somewhat lamely. Then he brightened up and sat on the bike, which was too small for him, and showed her how to ride it.

If anything Aliasse could learn very quickly as long as someone demonstrated for her. She got the gist of riding a bicycle very quickly.

"I want to try it! Let me try!" she said, shoving Avan almost before he'd gotten off and mounting the bicycle. She pulled up her cloak a little so it wouldn't get in the way and started pedalling. "Wooohooo!" she yelled, her hood falling off to reveal her blue hair flowing behind her as she turned the corner and shot all around the campus at top speed. Cosette picked up the watering can, stood and stared at the place Aliasse had disappeared around. She imagined Aliasse riding far away, to a place where they were no war, and she was given back the same love she greeted the world with. Just riding away.

Just when the first few tears started rolling down her cheeks something slammed into her leg from behind; she dropped the watering can. Aliasse was back. Laughing, she climbed down from the bike, took Cosette's hand and beamed.

.

**A/N: It's been months since I wrote my last story. I'd really like to write more humorous stories - Lance of the Giants is one of the best and funniest stories I've ever written in my own opinion, but I'm not very happy in my real life right now, actually, and that's not very conducive to getting ideas or making them funny. So I decided to write an oh-so-emotional, oh-so-moving story. I hope you like it.**


End file.
